I’m kinda seeing a double standard and I think the definition of “best” is subjective. All parents want what is best for their children, but my interpretation of best is different from yours and so on.
I think parents of children who are not disabled would be up in arms if their kids were not reading and would demand that something be done to solve this problem. Same for any subject or school-related issue. If these parents didn’t think their child was getting educational benefit, things would change quickly (especially if a school board member is affected).
Parents would not tolerate anything less than the “best” because that is what they think they are entitled to when they are paying for it. That is what they think they ARE getting if all is going well. Therefore, they are getting the “best” education for their child.
Now, take a look at the parent of an LD child who goes in concerned that their child is not reading (especially a inclusion student). All of a sudden things are different. We are told there a too many factors here and “best” for our child becomes a dirty word. If you want best, you’ll have to find that on your own time. What happened to “special education” that says we should individualize this childs education to give him the same opportunities to achieve educational benefit. Without “the best” we are in the same boat as the parent of a non-disabled who says “Hey, things just are working the way you”re doing them, we have to check this out and change it before any more time is wasted.”
So, why are the two situations different? We both want the same thing, right?
Classifying children as disabled automatically makes the situation “special” meaning that in most instances traditional hasl not worked, therefore we need to “specialize” (special education) the delivery of the education so that the child has the SAME opportunities as his non-disabled peers. The non-disabled is going to say the same thing, “what you are doing is not working.”
I do not think that parents of disabled children want anything more extravagant (“ROLLS ROYCE”) than the parents of the non-disabled. We have just learned that own children need a different way of doing things in order to achieve the same goals, and unfortunately it is GOING to cost more than traditional methods.
The people who are labeling these services as Rolls Royce possibly do not understand that these services could mean leveling the playing field for the child in order for him to participate and have a “satisfying” life.
Re: You are n't really disagreeing with each other...
Your husband may be CAPD.Just the commetn about the pig latin. He could get remediation even at his “advanced” age
Re: You are n't really disagreeing with each other...
My son had the same problem before we did PG.But my son doesn’t have CAPD, I think, but who knows he has so many other things I guess we could throw it in.
I tried to do a little PG with my husband he looked at me like I had truly finally lost it. I know that he lacks phonemic awareness. Whenever it is time to spell anything I sound it out for him and he can’t spell it with the sounds.
My son’s reading has taken off like a rocket lately. I don’t know if it is his new glasses (not for sight but for tracking issues) or the visual perception exercises but something is definitely clicking.
He read a full page of H. Potter without an error last night.
Re: Hi Beth,just wondered
I agree. I would think several different programs would do more harm than good.
It was very confusing for my son to do PG at home and then attempt to learn a very different method of reading at school. I think that is why he always makes his greatest strides during the summer.
Re: We live for day he can read harry potter. : ) nt..
Karen,
It took a full year. If you told me last year at this time he would be able to do this I would have thought you were messing with my head.
I am not going to say it was easy. He worked very very hard.
Re: No Easy Answers
Afraid so. That is actually where we started. He started speaking late and had very poor articulation. Also problems with receptive language (fixed through fast forward) and expressive to some degree. Still doesn’t use irregular verbs correctly at age 9. Word retreival problems also.
Beth
Re: Hi Beth,just wondered
I don’t think confusion was a problem. We only did LIPS for a few weeks. I later had him bounce on a ball (from Neuronet therapy) and he promptly learned the vowel circle. The motor is tied in with his problems in some way I still don’t understand.
My husband is in horticulture so the love comes from him. Our small yard has pots everywhere. He is only 9 so I think he is a little young for working at a nursery but my husband knows everyone so that is certainly a potential job when he is older. Now my son may have trouble with reading but he is a whizz at handling money.
Beth
Re: Hi Beth,just wondered
Good. I wasn’t really thinking of working for money , but rather learning from
gardeners. I’m so glad you’re husband has this expertise and can pass it along to him. You’re kid sounds like such a great kid. I’ve been readin some of your other posts and bits sound like mine. I’m lucky-Jack and I think a like a good deal so I have a feel for how he learns. For example taught him days of weeks same way I learned. By name of Norse Gods. Woden’s Day….WEdnesday… We both seem to need the connections between things.
Re: You are n't really disagreeing with each other...
That’s why I thought CAPD. My son had same response to PG. It’s still obvious he can’t hear certain sounds within words. That was the source of his speech probs. Guard came out God. Napoleaon this weekend was Apoleon. His phoneme awareness was so low it barely tested at all. Even tho his vocab tested at age 16-17. He did LIPS and was beginning to read and spell within a week. It was the right key for his lock.You might check out When the Brain Can’t Hear. Your husband might recognize himself. Our experience has been that CAPD kids with very low phoneme awareness need to learnto feel the words in their mouths. That’s why I think Jack would never have learned if we hadn’t done LIPS.
Re: We live for day he can read harry potter. : ) nt..
If Jack can read Harry Potter next year…we’ll both be ecstatic.
I have since learned that some people think doing LipS and PG both confuses kids. It should beone or the other. Do you think that might be a component to the lack of progress too?
Also I hope you’renot offended but I’ve been thinkig about one of your posts and something I’ve just read. Prince Charles is very keen on organic gardening.He has an estate called Highgrove which is all organic and self-sustaining. On his website he says there is a shortage of landscape gardeners (esp for the old English country houses that are in the national trust etc..)because young people aren’t training.He hasa gardener in his 90’s who remembers many of the old techniques for growing plants wo fertilizers and pesticides and he considers him a national treasure,but very few young people want to learn. Since you wrote once that is one of your sons strengths have you thought of letting him work with local landscaper or organic nursery?? He wouldn’t have to be a farmer…